“After the allotted time for studying the jade ended, I found myself in the entry hall, surrounded by students from the Radiant Fingers Sect. They attempted to kill me, claiming they would inform others that only their sect's students had entered the library. Since there were no students from our sect nearby, I presumed they had all been killed. I then decided to punish all violators of the inter-sect agreement. However, I did not violate our side of the agreement and spared all the finalists. Report complete.”
After my words, a heavy silence settled over the square.
“Kre Ka Tui...” - began Cheon Chu Han.
“Yes, I know. According to the agreement, for the next year, only your sect will have the right to send students to the Forbidden Tomb” - Kre Ka Tui replied through gritted teeth, glaring at me with hateful eyes.
“Very well” - Cheon Chu Han nodded as if it were a trivial matter. - “Although this competition between our sects began with a little deception, all disputes have now been resolved. Isn’t that right, my dear neighbor?”
“Yes” - came the begrudging response.
“Excellent” - Cheon Chu Han smiled joyfully. - “The next competition will involve the alchemist students crafting pills. As far as I know, that body over there belonged to the best alchemy student in your sect. Do you think they’ll be able to participate?”
“A handless alchemist?” - Kre Ka Tui almost fumed with rage. - “No, I can only field an inner-circle alchemy student for this contest.”
“That’s against the rules, but since there are no other contenders, I’ll agree. After all, we can compare the talents of the students not only with each other but also against their predecessors from the previous tournament. My representative will be Tan Ji Tao, who, coincidentally, is also an alchemy student.”
“I heard that Chu Zhu Zhu had two students” - said Kre Ka Tui, scanning the rows of my comrades with his eyes.
“Yes, I heard that too. Chi Hua Hua, where is he?” - asked Cheon Chu Han.
“He perished during the trial” - our commander replied grimly. - “Perhaps one of the students knows the details.”
I raised my hand.
“Tan Ji Tao, do you wish to say something?” - Cheon Chu Han asked with a gracious smile.
“Yes. I personally killed Dao Yu because he was a spy from the Radiant Fingers Sect. However, that is just my opinion, and I have no evidence to support this claim.”
“You killed your comrade based solely on a hunch?” - Kre Ka Tui asked darkly.
“He was not my comrade” - I responded with a polite bow. - “He repeatedly challenged my authority and attempted to orchestrate my death during the trial. As a true cultivator, I could not allow him to cast a shadow on my reputation. Since the rules of the trial permitted it, I resolved the conflict between us once and for all by executing the traitor. In my actions, I was guided by the words of the esteemed Chi Hua Hua, who said that a true cultivator must be energetic, decisive, and ruthless.”
The gaze directed at me did not grow heavier, for it was already filled to the brim with anger and hatred.
“Well, if there are no more questions, let us proceed to the trial” - said Cheon Chu Han, clapping his hands.
Immediately, a swarm of servants rushed onto the square, driving out all the students except me. They set up a portable alchemical workshop and brought over several cabinets filled with herbs. In Chu Zhu Zhu’s laboratory, there was a similar cabinet where he stored his supplies. I took a place near one of the alchemical furnaces, and in front of me sat six alchemists on low chairs. They could be identified by the special emblems on their robes — three from our sect and three from an allied one.
When everything was ready and the commotion had subsided, a young man of about twenty approached the second furnace. He looked down at me arrogantly and exchanged a glance with one of the judges. Chu Zhu Zhu was not among the judges because he was considered too weak as an alchemist. While others lived in private homes, he resided in the camp for condemned souls, giving lectures that no one would ever need.
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“Remove your spatial rings and roll up your sleeves to the elbows” - one of the judges ordered.
I hesitated briefly but eventually took off all my jewelry and set it aside. I had one ‘native’ ring and nine trophies, resulting in rings on every finger. I hadn’t yet decided what to do with them, but I wasn’t ready to part with the three rings from the inner-circle students. Together, they allowed me to carry nine cubic meters of cargo, more than enough for my current level. Most importantly, their contents were not exposed to prying eyes.
Instead of rolling up the sleeves of my robe, I removed it entirely and rolled up the sleeves of my shirt. Frankly, calling the rags I wore “clothing” was embarrassing. At least there were no visible holes, and that was a small blessing.
“First trial: the crafting of ten weak restorative pills.”
This pill was the simplest product in alchemy. Essentially, you just needed to take Blood Grass, grind it, mix it with water, compress it, and dry it. You didn’t even need to infuse it with Qi. Any farmer familiar with cooking could make this pill. Still, some alchemists managed to critically fail even at this simple task, ruining the results.
I opened the cabinet, pulled out twenty stalks of Blood Grass, and, using only my inner Qi, ground the grass by levitating it between my palms. I added a bit of water to the powder, formed ten small spheres from the paste, and drew the water out, creating a vacuum around the pills. The entire process took only a minute. Moreover, my Qi didn’t mix with the plants’ Qi, so their alchemical properties remained unchanged.
“Done” - I said, placing ten brick-colored pills on the stand before me.
Looking around, I saw that my opponent had only just begun grinding the grass in a mortar.
“You didn’t use an alchemical furnace!” - one of the alchemists exclaimed indignantly. Essentially, I had performed a sleight of hand, and they were utterly baffled, trying to understand what had just happened.
“This pill is far too simple to require a furnace. Moreover, heating worsens the pill’s quality, even though it increases its durability. Therefore, these pills should be stored in a stationary container and only taken out just before use. Wrapping each pill in a piece of paper allows for storage in a spatial ring without a loss in quality.”
I promptly demonstrated how to wrap a pill in a small sheet of waxed paper, turning it into something resembling a candy with little twists on both ends.
A servant approached my table, picked up the stand with the pills, and carried it to the judges. They inspected the products skeptically; one even sniffed a pill and bit into it.
“They are acceptable” - one of the alchemists declared after a brief, whispered discussion among them.
As for my opponent’s results, they took another ten minutes to complete. Moreover, he rushed and overheated the furnace, turning his pills into rock-hard lumps.
“Below average” - the judges announced. - “The next task: crafting a small healing pill.”
This task, frankly, was already beyond what Chu Zhu Zhu had taught us. Nevertheless, I remembered all the recipes from his book, so I didn’t anticipate any issues crafting the pill. Here, I refrained from experimenting and adhered strictly to the recipe, carefully verifying every stage of material processing using psionics.
The process required grinding Silverleaf Tree bark to a fine powder, "baking" an intact, undamaged Furry Needlegrass in an oven, and making a "hot extraction" from the juicy stem of a Noon Creeping Vine. I had never worked with the vine before, so I first made an extract from a small piece of it. Only after ensuring a high-quality result did I process the remaining stem. Combining all the ingredients into a single pill and "evaporating" the excess liquid went smoothly. Once again, I used "vacuum evaporation" to avoid excessive heating while still completing the process efficiently.
“Done” - I said, placing the pill on the stand.
“You dried it too quickly. This means the pill is overheated on the outside and damp on the inside” - an alchemist from the Radiant Fingers Sect criticized me.
“You’re welcome to test whether that’s the case.”
“There’s no need. It’s obvious” - he stubbornly insisted.
Nevertheless, a servant carried the stand to the judges.
“This small healing pill is of excellent quality” - one of the "allied" alchemists praised me.
“Impossible!” - the critic exclaimed indignantly. - “I’ve been crafting these pills every day for sixty years and know every stage of their preparation down to the second.” - He grabbed the pill and began examining it. Within seconds, his anger turned to confusion. - “How did he do this? The core is still too raw, but if you place the pill in a sealed container, it will reach the proper moisture level throughout within a day. It took me ten years to determine the correct drying time and temperature.”
“Note that the Silverleaf Tree bark powder has not lost its properties, meaning the drying temperature was lower than usual” - another expert remarked.
“A thin layer of extract formed on the pill’s surface, indicating rapid heating followed by cooling in dry air” - added a third.
“Your observations contradict each other, yet I see no error in them” - a fourth chimed in.
“How did you achieve this effect?” - one of the alchemists asked me.
This question seemed to pertain to the exam, but Chu Zhu Zhu had endlessly lectured us that a true alchemist never shares their secrets, only their results.